Moving to Virginia - First time scouting the area - 3 day roadtrip - need advice (Virginia Beach: apartment)

[dentite21]

My wife and I are moving to Virginia May 2017. We both really like the state though I have never been. Our jobs are very mobile as we are in healthcare. We are looking for a normal - low cost of living (NoVa and DC are being cut from the possibilities due to high cost of living). So far we like the Shenandoah Valley area - Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Charlottesville. We also looked into Roanoke and the Richmond area. Another possibility is the Chesapeake area. We are planning a 3 day road trip starting in Richmond. In terms of a place to live here is what we are looking for:

Where are you coming from?: Suburbs of Chicago
Why are you moving?: Job market saturation and high cost of living
Where will you be working?: Dental field (dentist) and assisted living field (occupational therapist)
Have you been here yet?: No

Will you buy or rent?: We will rent for about a year then buy a house
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend?: House, $150,000-$250,000
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? Any rental is ok (just limit the number of college students - a place with young professionals would be ideal). Range of spending $850- $1200
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? We don't have a preference.

Are you married or single? Do you have children?: We are married with no children.
Do you prefer public or private schools?: We prefer good public schools once we buy a house
Do you have pets?: One cat
Are you keeping a car?: 2 cars
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet?: We do prefer some activity and some calmness

What do you want to be closest to?: Work, Shopping, Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)

Any advice on towns we MUST see would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!

Update:
Here is the roadtrip plan so far
Day 1: Arrive in Richmond 12:00 pm - explore The Fan area - drive to the northern Shenandoah Valley - explore Luray then Winchester and end the day in Harrisonburg (very interested in Harrisonburg).
Day 2: Start the day exploring more of Harrisonburg - drive to Staunton - Charlottesville - Lynchburg - Roanoke - and possible start the drive to Norfolk if time permits
Day 3: Finish drive to Norfolk and Virginia Beach then back to Airport in Richmond

How does this look? Any towns we should spend more time in?

[loveautumn]

Having done a few exploratory trips to VA myself, I'd say you might be covering too much ground for three days. I'd recommend Richmond one day, Winchester area or Roanoke for second day, and Hampton Roads area for one day...even that much is going to be a lot of ground to cover. Charlottesville is great but would be out of your housing budget so could be a waste of time. All of Virginia is heavily patrolled so be careful with speeding. Virginia is a beautiful state so enjoy!

[dentite21]

Thanks for the advice. Realistically we are not going to move to Richmond because the job market for me is saturated but did want to do a small amount of exploring since it is the closest "big" city. So we didn't want to spend too much time in Richmond for day 1. Harrisonburg and Stauton are the top choices right now. I did just look into Charlottesville housing market after reading your comment. I found the same house, same builder, same year built for $110,000 more in Charlottesville than Harrisonburg - so thank you for the tip. We might still cruise through the area just to see it quickly.

[Bigfoot424]

That limit on housing might create an issue. With that amount I imagine the house you buy will not be what you want. While housing prices are less in Shenandoah Co and surrounding areas they are still above this amount for a decent home. Winchester is in Frederick Co and they tend to run even higher. Believe me, we know as we looked for 6 months in both counties before going with Shenandoah Co. Mountain views became a requirement and this basically took out most of Frederick Co.
Shenandoah Co and area definitely needs more dentist offices but your wife's job might see more options in a more congested area. We just visited a 94-year old friend in a Lutheran home in Staunton and it was a good size one and very nice.

I really like Staunton and like Harrisonburg as well. As far as schools I can't give an opinion as our kids were grown well before we moved here.

[dentite21]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

That limit on housing might create an issue. With that amount I imagine the house you buy will not be what you want. While housing prices are less in Shenandoah Co and surrounding areas they are still above this amount for a decent home. Winchester is in Frederick Co and they tend to run even higher. Believe me, we know as we looked for 6 months in both counties before going with Shenandoah Co. Mountain views became a requirement and this basically took out most of Frederick Co.
Shenandoah Co and area definitely needs more dentist offices but your wife's job might see more options in a more congested area. We just visited a 94-year old friend in a Lutheran home in Staunton and it was a good size one and very nice.

I really like Staunton and like Harrisonburg as well. As far as schools I can't give an opinion as our kids were grown well before we moved here.

Thanks for the response bigfoot. The reason I put the range of the house in the lower end is because we are looking for a starter home first (I am 28 years old and my wife 27). We can afford something much nicer but we are also somewhat frugal. That being said the current area we live in has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths priced out over a million dollar. So any area other than DC and NoVa will look somewhat reasonable. I have found some nice places in Harrisonburg (3 bedroom and 2 bath) for around $260,000.

[NeedsToGrowUp]

Charlottesville is very commutable (except for ongoing route 29 construction). You should be able to find some nice places with your budget.

I would drop Luray (its stagnant and has drug issues) and look at northern Shenandoah county, Front Royal etc.

I agree with loveautumn, spending more time would be good, unless you want to live in town.

[Muffin Man]

Check out Midlothian just outside Richmond, very affordable housing. It's pretty close to lots of interesting spots for sure. I only dated someone there for about a year and spent numerous long weekends up there but I did form a favorable opinion (for the record I live in the North End of VB). I seriously househunted in C-Ville back in '02 and found it overpriced, I doubt much has changed over the years.